6 Applying human 'rules of dialog' to reach conversation resolution
This chapter covers
- The basic building blocks of conversational VUI dialogs
- Three core dialog patterns that all VUI implementations must handle
- How to write prompts for the core dialog patterns that'll keep you out of trouble
- Code samples for: turn-taking, initiating versus responding, single slot versus multi-slot, question answering, action requests, task completion requests
This is the first chapter of part 3, where you learn in-depth the ins and outs of voice design and development, one key topic at a time. "Don't sweat the details" might be good advice for life in general, but as you've started to see, in voice development it's all about the details. To make a conversational UI seem "smart," it can't only make the voice sound human, add conversational phrases, recognize and understand what the user said, get the context, know about that user and about the world in general - it has to do all those well to seem at least as smart as your average 5-year old.
You start by getting familiar with three conversational dialog patterns and what distinguishes each one. This is important for two reasons. First, these patterns cover most of the voice interactions you'll build, no matter the type of device or topic. Second, by understanding what people expect in each dialog pattern, you can predict responses and build robust voice interactions, even as reusable templates for any platform.